Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The Joint Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review said the Gaming Commission's ongoing challenge is to avoid being too closely aligned with gambling interests, "an industry with substantial wealth and lobbying power," PEER's report read.
The commission's actions must demonstrate that it " exists to protect the general public, not to promote the industry which it regulates," said the report, obtained earlier than its Thursday release date by the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson.
Paul Harvey, executive director of the state Gaming Commission, said Tuesday night he had not seen a final copy of the PEER report, which recommends several changes in licensing and regulation.
"I will stand behind the commission and its ability to regulate," Harvey said. "I feel very comfortable with the job we are doing, and we are considered one of the premiere regulatory agencies in the United States."
The report was mailed Tuesday to Gov. Kirk Fordice, the Gaming Commission and members of the Legislature.
It proposes several regulatory changes for casinos and charitable bingo operations, and suggests legislators tighten laws to require bingo operations to give a set percentage of proceeds to charity.
Less than 10 percent of gross proceeds from bingo currently go to charities, records show.
Sen. Tommy Gollott, D-Biloxi, said Tuesday he had not read the PEER report but he already planned to introduce a bill to rewrite regulation of charitable bingo.
PEER executive director Max Arinder said the committee worked on the report about 18 months, drawing on their research of gaming laws in Mississippi and other states, of Gaming Commission records and on-site casino inspections.
State lawmakers voted in 1990 to legalize gambling on dockside casinos. Mississippi now has 29 casinos regulated by the Gaming Commission. A casino run by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians does not fall under Gaming Commission authority.
Mississippi's casino industry has grown quickly, the report said, because "the Mississippi Gaming Commission ... has assumed an economic-development role not contemplated or authorized by the Gaming Control Act.
"In its efforts to assist in development of the industry, the Gaming Commission began licensing gaming establishments before its regulatory infrastructure was fully in place."
Harvey last week appeared before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and came under fire from Sen. Hob Bryan, who said the commission is too close to people it regulates. Harvey said the commission is tough but not "adversarial."
Harvey on Tuesday said he read early drafts of the PEER report and objected because those drafts did not focus on how the Gaming Commission now operates.
For example, PEER recommended the Gaming Commission revise its training requirements to include minimum number of hours on how to catch cheating at games. Harvey said that requirement is already in place.
He did agree with the PEER suggestion that the Legislature should change Mississippi laws and allow the Gaming Commission an audit division. Compliance officers now handle the auditing resposibilities.
Some other recommendations of the report:
- Mississippi should obtain five years of financial background for companies applying for gaming licenses. In a written response, the Gaming Commission said such a program has been developed and said it would require legislative support for additional staffers.
- The state Gaming Commission should develop written criteria for approving new table games. The commission responded that it expects to do so by Sept. 30.
archive
